Establishment Republicans once dreamed of replacing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with a less bombastic alternative in 2018. Those dreams now appear out of reach, even as a North Texas Republican with ties to state’s old political guard is on the verge of launching a challenge to the first-term senator. A Fort Worth-based super PAC aimed at replacing Cruz with a Republican in the “leadership style” of President Ronald Reagan has barely raised any money. Its favored candidate, Christian television executive Bruce Jacobson, last week stumbled in the early stages of a possible campaign rollout. And while Cruz, who has more...

Senate Republicans reckoned Wednesday with an insurgent’s win in Alabama that poses clear threats to their own grip on power and the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Nearly $10 million spent by a McConnell-backed super PAC couldn’t save incumbent GOP Sen. Luther Strange, who had been endorsed by President Donald Trump as well. It came the same day that McConnell, short of votes, pulled the plug on the latest and possibly final GOP effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare.” Coming together, the events raised questions about McConnell’s leadership within the Senate and without, casting doubt on his reputation both...

The Republican-led Senator lied to the American people. They promised to repeal the failed Obamacare law for seven-and-a-half years. They ran their campaigns on repealing Obamacare. But they all lied. And then Mitch McConnell had the gall to blame President Trump for expecting too much from the senate! .Sens. tweeting support of McConnell: â–Şď¸ŹCornyn â–Şď¸ŹCorker â–Şď¸ŹTillis â–Şď¸ŹIsakson â–Şď¸ŹCollins â–Şď¸ŹHatch â–Şď¸ŹGardner â–Şď¸ŹHeller â–Şď¸ŹFlake â–Şď¸ŹYoung â–Şď¸ŹCapito.

Sen. John Cornyn took to the Senate floor Wednesday to talk about the backlog of President Trump’s executive nominations, saying he’s “never seen anything quite like it.” As Cortney reported last month, if the current pace continues, it would take 11 years for all of the president’s nominees to be confirmed—long after he’d be out of office even if he did get a second term. "We had an election on November 8, but for many of our colleagues, the election remains undecided. They don't accept the verdict of the American people, the Electoral College, that President Trump won the election....

The Justice Department is interviewing four candidates on Saturday for the permanent position of FBI director, an administration official with knowledge of the vetting process confirmed. The candidates include the current acting director, a sitting congressman, a New York judge, and a former top Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration. News reports throughout the day Friday cited as many as 11 people under consideration for the position. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein plan to interview four candidates at the Justice Department on Saturday afternoon but it was unclear whether additional interviews might...

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is looking to expand the number of wealthy foreign nationals who can pay their way to permanent legal residency in the U.S. under the EB-5 visa. Cornyn is floating draft legislation that would essentially erase the current cap for EB-5 visas, which is set at 10,000 a year. Under the EB-5 visa, foreign nationals can claim that they will invest $500,000 and thus receive Green Cards for their family for at least two years, with pathways to citizenship available as well. The only requirement is that the EB-5 holder create 10 U.S. jobs.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) is predicting that congressional Republicans will be more willing to work with Hillary Clinton than they have been with President Obama, should she be elected president. "She is a known commodity, and I think there’ll be more camaraderie in terms of working together, than there might have been in the early days of Obama," Isakson told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Isakson, who is running for reelection and has endorsed GOP nominee Donald Trump, added, "I don’t think it will be like the post-Obama election at all." Isakson's comments come as Clinton has narrowly trailed Trump in...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is declining to endorse fellow Texas Republican Ted Cruz for re-election to the Senate in 2018, just as Cruz did not back Cornyn for another term two years ago... Cruz is facing the prospect of a serious challenger after he upset some Republicans by expressing no support for presidential nominee Donald Trump in July at the party's national convention. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin, who has been urged to take on Cruz, has not ruled out a run...

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is demanding answers from Attorney General Loretta Lynch about the Justice Department’s decision earlier this year to decline an FBI recommendation to investigate the Clinton Foundation. The Republican points out in the letter that the DOJ’s decision not to pursue an investigation despite the FBI’s recommendation is in stark contrast to its decision last month to accept the bureau’s recommendation not to charge Clinton following its email probe. "The outcome in both cases favors Secretary Clinton," Cornyn writes. On Thursday, CNN reported that the FBI and three Justice Department field offices recommended that Justice Department headquarters...

Sen. John Cornyn is stepping up pressure on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to respond to reports that the Department of Justice ignored an FBI request to investigate the Clinton Foundation. Cornyn sent a letter to Lynch on Friday with a series of questions stemming from a CNN report this week that FBI officers approached the Justice Department earlier this year about opening a case regarding the relationship between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation. The Justice Department declined to investigate, according to the report, because it had already looked into similar allegations and found there was not sufficient evidence...

Sen. John Cornyn is stepping up pressure on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to respond to reports that the Department of Justice ignored an FBI request to investigate the Clinton Foundation. Cornyn sent a letter to Lynch on Friday with a series of questions stemming from a CNN report this week that FBI officers approached the Justice Department earlier this year about opening a case regarding the relationship between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation. The Justice Department declined to investigate, according to the report, because it had already looked into similar allegations and found there was not sufficient evidence...

"I think it was a mistake,” Cornyn said in an interview on Fox News Radio’s Kilmeade & Friends. “You don’t come to the convention after you have lost the nomination and not support the nominee. I think the right thing to do would be to stay home. So I think it was a mistake and I don’t know what it means in terms of his future, but I think he miscalculated.” Cornyn added that he has not talked to Cruz since he saw him in Cleveland, but he said other members of the Texas delegation shared a similar view... Cornyn's...

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is doubling down on his push for a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton's email practices while secretary of State in the wake of a top watchdog report. "I just have to say the conduct of the former secretary demonstrates why people just don't trust her," the Senate's No. 2 Republican said Thursday. "Her intention has been to obstruct the public's right to know." Cornyn's comments come after the State Department inspector general said that Clinton took steps to make sure her personal email account wasn't "accessible" while she was secretary of State. Cornyn said the...

Sen. Ted Cruz and his most determined supporters are likely still licking their wounds and mending their broken hearts. Such a sudden end to his primary campaign for president has left marks that will heal but slowly. Soon, though, Cruz will see that he has come through the hurricane of his first presidential campaign with his prospects enhanced, rather than retarded. We hope that knowledge gives him confidence and patience to reconsider his approach to the job he is returning to, as the junior senator from Texas. That’s the work, after all, that Texas voters singled him out for in...

On Monday afternoon, KERA News' Krys Boyd sat down with Sen. John Cornyn in the Hart Senate Office Building to talk about new legislation he’s sponsoring, Donald Trump — and Ted Cruz, his Texas colleague in the Senate who's running for president. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation. Read the full story at KERA News.

Cameron Lancaster Senate Republicans blocked a slate of President Obama's lower court nominees Tuesday. Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii),Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Ben Cardin (Md.) asked for consent four times to bring up a total of 11 judicial nominations Tuesday, arguing that the pace of confirmation votes has created a backlog. "The judicial confirmation process has been at a crawl for years. Now it has come to a functional standstill," said Schumer, who is expected to be the next Senate Democratic leader. The Senate's top Republicans teamed up to block the Democratic efforts. Majority LeaderMitch McConnell objected to requests...

The number two Republican in the Senate charged Thursday that President Obama is "trying to influence the outcome" of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department. "Time and time again, the White House has projected its desired outcome of this investigation to the public, and worse, to those people conducting it," Texas Sen. John Cornyn said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon. The Senate majority whip has long called for a special counsel to take over the review of Clinton's email practices, but President Obama's latest defense of...

WASHINGTON — One is a steady 16-year veteran of the U.S. Senate, a well-connected elder in the Grand Old Party. The other is an energetic bomb thrower who in four short years has positioned himself as the only thing standing between the Republican presidential nomination and Donald Trump. Together, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. That means regularly working together in the best interests of their state. For years, their detached relationship has been little more than the subject of Capitol Hill gossip. Yet now, with their party at a crossroads and the presidential nomination...

Texas’ senior U.S. Senator says that building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is not the solution to border security. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said during a tour of the border on Tuesday, “It’s more than just a physical obstacle.” In a press conference following the river tour, Cornyn told reporters, “What we need is a virtual border.” As reported by the local Fox News affiliate in the Valley, Cornyn was touring the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge near the Texas-Mexico border. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) was also with him. When he was on the border near Anzalduas Park near Mission, Texas,...